Coprophagia is the consumption of feces, from the Greek copros (feces) and phagein (eat). Many animal species have evolved to practice coprophagia; other
species do not normally consume feces but may do so under unusual conditions. Only in rare cases is it practiced by humans, usually as a manifestation of psychiatric illness or as part of a sexual ritual.

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Coprophagous insects consume and redigest the feces of large animals; these feces contain substantial amounts of semi-digested food. (Herbivore digestive systems are especially inefficient.) The most famous feces-eating insect is dung-beetle and the most ubiquitous is the fly.

Pigs are most commonly associated with eating not only their own dung, but those of other animals and humans.

Rabbits, cavies and related species do not have the complicated ruminant digestive system. Instead they extract more nutrition from grass by giving their food a second pass through the gut. Soft caecal pellets of partially digested food are excreted and generally consumed immediately. They also produce normal droppings, which are not eaten.

Young elephants, pandas, koalas, and hippos eat the feces of their mother to obtain the necessary bacteria for the proper digestion of the vegetation found on the savannah and in the jungle. When they are born, their intestines do not contain these bacteria (they are completely sterile). Without them, they would be unable to get any nutritional value from plants.

Hamsters eat their own droppings; this is thought to be a source of vitamins B and K, produced by bacteria in the gut. Apes have been observed eating horse feces for the salt. Monkeys have been observed to eat elephant feces. Coprophagia has also been observed in the naked mole rat.

Coprophagia is a behavior sometimes observed in dogs. Hofmeister, Cumming, and Dhein (2001) wrote that this behavior in dogs has not been well-researched, and are currently preparing a study. In a preliminary paper, they write that there are various hypotheses for this, although none have been proven:

To get attention from their owners.

From anxiety, stress, or having been punished for bad behaviors.

They had been punished for having defecated in the past, and attempt to clean up out of fear of being punished again.

From boredom.

In an attempt to clean up in crowded conditions.

Imitation of behavior observed when their owners pick up feces (allelomimetic behavior). This is highly improbable because the behavior has also been observed in environments where owners never picked up the dog's (or other) feces.

Because puppies taste everything and discover that feces are edible and, perhaps, tasty, especially when fed a high fat content diet.

Because dogs are, by nature, scavengers, and this is within the range of scavenger behavior.

Due to the attraction of dogs to their feces, a popular Chinese idiom goes "A dog cannot change its habit of eating feces", which usually refers to a bad habit that is hard to correct.[How to reference and link to summary or text]

Coprophagia is extremely uncommon in humans. It is generally thought to be the result of the paraphilia known as coprophilia, although it is only diagnosable in extreme cases where it disturbs one's functioning. Similar risk can apply to related sexual practices, such as anilingus or inserting an object into the mouth that has recently been in the anus (see ass to mouth). Coprophagia is also sometimes depicted in pornography, usually under the terms "scat" or "shitplay".

Lewin (2001) reports that "... consumption of fresh, warm camel feces has been recommended by Bedouins as a remedy for bacterial dysentery; its efficacy (probably attributable to the antibiotic subtilisin from Bacillus subtilis) was confirmed by German soldiers in Africa during World War II."